The TUSD Governing Board has extended its contract with H.T.Sanchez through June 2018.

A salary increase will incrementally boost the superintendent’s base pay from $210,000 to $280,000 by the final year.

Incentives to encourage Sanchez to stay at TUSD include additional payouts of $25,000 a year for the final two years of the agreement.

The board also approved Tuesday night:

  • The sale of the east side Van Horne Elementary School for $1.4 million to Pepper Viner Investment Co. II, LLC, to demolish the building and develop a residential subdivision.
  • The payment of more than $478,000 in attorney fees for the plaintiffs in its desegregation case.
  • The approval of contracts for the superintendent’s leadership team for the upcoming school year whose salaries total more than $1.1 million, including general counsel
  • Julie Tolleson
  • , who reports to the board.
  • The outsourcing of substitute teachers as a $1.6 million cost-saving measure. Existing substitute teachers will work for a leasing company, which will service TUSD and provide medical benefits to eligible employees. By avoiding that expense, TUSD will raise the daily substitute teacher rate from $75 to $92 and will cover the fee paid out per employee to the leasing company.

In response to concerns about outsourcing, TUSD announced the creation of an itinerant teacher program that will be open to a group of substitute teachers to fill high-need positions. Those teachers would be guaranteed 180 days of work a year and would be eligible to receive benefits superior to what the leasing company will offer.

The district has also started a β€œpathway to the classroom” program to help substitute teachers pass a certification test if they agree to work for TUSD.


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Contact reporter Alexis Huicochea at ahuicochea@tucson.com or 573-4175. On Twitter: @AlexisHuicochea